Twitter (Accidentally) Takes Step Toward Accessible Images

Video showing how tweet quoting works. See original tweet from which I swiped the video.

Twitter has officially released its new-ish tweet quoting feature. Since at least last June, if a user included the URL of a tweet within a new tweet, it would present viewers with the full body (albeit smaller) of the referenced tweet within the new tweet.

Now that feature has been formalized. Users should see it when retweeting a tweet as the option to quote a tweet (which previously would just wrap the original tweet in quotes).

This can be a boon to Twitter image accessibility, allowing alternative text to wrap an image tweet (see my post on existing techniques). Except for a few points:

Image 1 Image 2
The first image shows a tweet quoting an image tweet when viewed in the timeline (the quoted tweet’s content is visible). The second image shows a tweet quoting another when viewed on its own, demonstrating that the quoted tweet’s content isn’t displayed at all. Note in both views that I cannot retweet my own tweet (the option is disabled).
Sample tweet that quotes an image tweet, but does not show the quoted tweet.

* From the Twitter page explaining the feature, Note: You cannot Retweet your own quote Tweet.

3 Comments

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I started a reply here and ended up posting it as a rant on my own blog: http://www.mardahl.dk/2015/04/10/in-which-i-rant-about-twitter-and-quoted-tweets/

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[…] Twitter (Accidentally) Takes Step Toward Accessible Images | Adrian Roselli “Twitter has officially released its new-ish tweet quoting feature. Since at least last June, if a user included the URL of a tweet within a new tweet, it would present viewers with the full body (albeit smaller) of the referenced tweet within the new tweet.” […]

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[…] Twitter (Accidentally) Takes Step Toward Accessible Images | Adrian Roselli “Twitter has officially released its new-ish tweet quoting feature. Since at least last June, if a user included the URL of a tweet within a new tweet, it would present viewers with the full body (albeit smaller) of the referenced tweet within the new tweet.” […]

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